Venable partner Lindsay Meyer was quoted in an article in Compliance Week on September 6, 2017, about distilling lessons from the uptick in FCPA declinations. According to the article, numerous companies in recent weeks have said the government will not be pursuing enforcement actions following previously disclosed investigations into potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. An analysis conducted by Miller & Chevalier identified more than 20 FCPA declinations in 2017, through the end of July. That figure is already on track to outpace every year’s annual total since the law firm began tracking declinations in 2008. And that number represents only those that have been made public.

Meyer said that the recent spate of publicly announced FCPA case closures without enforcement may be a promising indication that the tide is turning. “It looks as though it’s a more welcoming environment for disclosures today than it certainly has been in the past.”

Another factor contributing to the recent wave in FCPA declinations is simply resource allocation. The volume of activity—in terms of more self-disclosures in response to the Pilot Program and more FCPA investigations sitting in the pipeline—is driving the agencies to be more selective about cases “that they know are going to be successful and a wise use of their resources,” Meyer said.